The Black Scorpion
by TinyTubaPlayer22
Summary: Giovanna Russo is the Black Scorpion, a former Italian spy currently working for SHIELD. She is called upon to supervise the thawing of Captain America, and to join the Avengers Initiative. When Giovanna falls for the Captain, however, things take an unexpected turn, especially after Fury finds out. *I own nothing except Giovanna.*
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

_June 3, 2011, 8:49 pm_

It was a warm summer evening in New York City, the sky blazing orange in the sunset. A woman of around twenty walked into a pizzeria in Times Square, greeting the manager before going up a set of stairs to a small apartment. She took out a set of keys, unlocking the door, and stepped inside.

_Beep beep_

"This had better be important," the woman said to the empty room, taking a cell phone out of her pocket and answering it. "What do you want, Fury? I just got home, you know."

_"We need you to come in. The Times Square office."_ the man on the other end replied, and the woman rolled her eyes.

"I'll see you in ten minutes."

* * *

"ID please," the secretary requested, and the woman pulled what looked like a wallet from her back pocket, showing the secretary what was inside.

"Ah, Agent Russo. Down that hall, fifth door on your right." the woman, Agent Russo, set off down the indicated hallway, counting doors until she got to the correct one.

"Hello?" she called through the door, which opened to reveal a very large block of ice sitting on a metal table.

"You called me in for a large block of ice?"

"Agent Russo, this block of ice contains the body of Captain America. You _do_ know who that is, right?"

"Just because I'm Italian doesn't mean I don't know about Captain America, Fury. But what does him being in this block of ice have to do with me?"

"You are the only agent who has the clearance for this that isn't scheduled for a mission over the next month, Russo. You are in charge of overseeing the melting of the ice surrounding the Captain, as well as checking for signs of life, et cetera."

"Really? You couldn't get fan-boy Coulson to do it?"

"He's in Shanghai on a mission for the next two weeks."

* * *

Over the next week, the large block of ice was gradually melted until a body clad in red, white, and blue started to emerge. Once the body was half-uncovered, the lab techs scanned it out of curiosity.

"Hey, this guy's alive!" one of them said, and the door opened to reveal a tall, blonde woman who walked in, looking expectantly at the head scientist.

"_Explain,_" she hissed, giving the man a death-glare.

"Um, well, I thought that since the body was relatively uncovered, we should scan it for anything unusual. And, he's alive." the scientist explained nervously, indicating the still half-frozen body as he spoke.

"All of you, out!" the woman demanded, and the scientist fled, along with his lab techs.

"Good thing I've been watching those squints over the past week, or else I wouldn't know how to work this machine," she muttered to herself, turning on the machine that had been melting the ice.

* * *

"What are they _doing_ out there?" the man on the hospital bed heard a voice say from above him. Something soft and warm was pressed rather firmly onto his face, and as he opened his eyes, he realized what the something was, becoming very uncomfortable, very quickly.

"Excuse me?" he said, his voice coming out muffled. His face was uncovered and he saw a tall, blonde woman standing beside his bed.

"Who are you?" the man asked, and the woman gave a half-smile.

"Giovanna Russo."


	2. See You Again

**See You Again**

* * *

_June 20, 2012, 4:03 p.m._

I hurried down the street to the pizzeria that I lived over, not really seeing where I was going in my rush to get home. I had just gotten back from a week-long mission in Italy, overseeing a UN meeting in Rome.

I was so distracted that I barely noticed the man running toward me until we collided. I fell flat on my back on the hot sidewalk while the man was only thrown into a sitting position. He stood up, coming to stand over me and offering a hand to help me up. I accepted gratefully and was pulled to my feet, where I got a better look at the man. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite put a name to his face.

"I'm sorry, miss, I really should have been watching where I was going," he apologized, and I felt something stir in my mind, like an old memory was trying to force its way back to the surface.

"It's fine. Who are you, by the way? Not to be rude or anything, it's just that you look really familiar for some reason..." I trailed off, looking nervously at my feet.

"Steve Rogers. And you, miss?" he introduced himself, holding out a hand to shake.

"Giovanna Russo," I replied, taking his hand in a firm handshake. "So, what's got you in such a rush?" I asked, curious as to why he'd been going fast enough to knock me flat on my back when we collided.

"SHIELD called me in. Apparently it's urgent." he replied, confusing me.

"I left the base not an hour and a half ago. What could have come up since then that's urgent enough to force them to call you in? And why didn't they call me in too?" I asked, but Steve shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea. Would you like to come with me?" he suggested.

"Sure."

* * *

"So, Fury, what's up?" I asked, walking into the conference room.

"Fury's not here."

"Yeah, Natasha, I can see that now. Wait, where's Clint?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"He was... compromised. Fury will be able to explain it better than I can." she answered curtly, leaving the room.

* * *

Three hours later, everything had been explained and we had moved to the Helicarrier, SHIELD's headquarters.

"We'll be staying in my quarters, there's an extra bed in there," I told Steve, leading him into the residential area of the air-ship.

"Why can't I get my own quarters?" Steve asked, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of rooming with a woman.

"It would take too long to prepare, and also, the Council hasn't approved your being here yet, and they don't fund anything without reasonable reasoning." I explained, confusing Steve with my explanation. But he accepted it, which was good enough for me.

* * *

Not long after Steve had gotten settled in in my quarters, we were called down to the lab, where they had found the location of the Tesseract, and, by association, Loki.

"Germany?" I asked incredulously, getting frustrated looks from the others. Really, was Loki _trying_ to be another Hitler?

"Yes, blondie, Germany," Tony Stark snapped, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"I have a name, you know," I countered, adding "but we need to get Loki, not argue!"

"Fine."

* * *

Once in Germany, we found Loki easily, as he had duplicated himself to surround a crowd of German museum-party-goers. He was also giving a speech about how humans were "made to be ruled". An old man stood up at the end of Loki's speech, and Loki shot some sort of energy beam at the man when Steve conveniently dropped out of the Quinjet and blocked the beam with his shield.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Natasha said over the jet's PA system, right before Stark came flying in, hacking the PA system to blare rock music during his dramatic capture of Loki. Loki was brought on the jet to be taken back to the Helicarrier, and we were on our way back when a thunderstorm started.

"What's wrong, Loki? Afraid of a little thunder?" I asked mockingly, having seen him flinch during a particularly loud thunderclap. He looked up at me, barely hiding the fact that he was nervous.

"I'm not particularly fond of what comes after," he explained, right before something landed on top of the Quinjet. Stark opened the back hatch of the jet and a blonde man in old-fashioned armor and a cape came in, taking Loki and jumping down to earth.

Immediately, Stark started getting ready to go after the two.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack." Steve said, trying to stop him from just rushing to recapture Loki.

"We have a plan. Attack." Stark replied, and I watched with amusement as he flew out of the jet to find Loki and the man who had stolen him. Steve instantly started putting on a parachute to jump out after the three men, and he was about to jump when I stopped him.

"Are you sure this will work?" I asked, concerned. I had long since figured out who had taken Loki, and Thor could summon lightning and decimate things with his hammer.

"I don't want Stark getting himself killed, that wouldn't go over well with Fury," Steve replied, grabbing his shield and jumping out of the jet.

"Who do you think would win in a fight, Thor or Iron Man and Captain America working together?" I asked, trying to break up the tense silence that had started when Steve had jumped out of the jet.

"I honestly don't know," Natasha answered, sounding slightly angry, and I gave up on starting a conversation in favor of trying to figure out what was going on down below based on the sounds of the fight.

Suddenly, there was a loud clang, then the sound of a forest being leveled.

"That sounded kinda like Thor's hammer hitting the Captain America shield," I mused, waiting to see if anything else would happen in the fight.

After a few minutes of waiting, four people entered the back hatch of the jet. Stark closed the hatch while Thor and Loki sat down, Loki being very carefully watched. Steve put down his shield and sat down next to me.

"Thor decided to help us with Loki."


	3. He Will Be Avenged

**He Will Be Avenged**

* * *

The next day, Bruce, Steve, Stark, Thor, Natasha, and I were in the lab, where Bruce and Tony were studying Loki's scepter.

"Big man in a metal suit. Take that away and what are you?" Steve snapped at Stark, and I gave an exasperated sigh, rolling my eyes. Apparently my sigh was rather loud, because the angry superheroes turned to glare at me.

"We're supposed to work as a _team_, guys, and that won't work if you keep arguing! Steve, if someone took away Stark's Iron Man suit, he would just make another one. Stark, Steve thought your father was a good man. You disagree with him. It's all a matter of personal opinion! And you do _not_ want to hear my lecture on personal opinion, right Natasha?" I said, and Natasha nodded her agreement.

"Uh, guys?" Bruce said then, sounding incredibly nervous.

"Yes, Dr. Banner?" Natasha asked politely.

"Loki's scepter can be tracked."

Right then, an explosion rocked the Helicarrier. We were all thrown around the lab by the force of the explosion, and the moment I got up, I ran to the control center, where Fury and Hill were shooting Loki's men. I joined in, fighting my way over to the two. Soon enough, Steve, along with Stark, joined us.

"We need someone to go out and repair the number three engine." Hill said, and the two went to get on their suits. I ran to the damaged engine, arriving just as Steve did. Stark flew up moments later, giving instructions.

"You help Stark. I'll keep Loki's men out of the way." I told Steve, and he got to work following Stark's instructions. Any time I saw one of Loki's men, I shot them, managing to keep them at bay just enough for Stark and Steve to repair the engine.

* * *

"Agent Coulson was killed by Loki. He had these," Fury said, pausing to toss Coulson's superhero cards on the table, "in his pocket." I rolled my eyes at the last part of Fury's statement, because I knew that the cards had been in Coulson's locker when he died. But I wasn't about to tell anyone, because I knew the lie was part of Fury's plan to get the Avengers to work together.

Once Fury had left the room, Stark started psychoanalyzing Loki.

"Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants a monument in the sky with his name on- that son of a bitch!" Stark said, leaving the room after his realization.

"Meet you at Stark Tower!" I called after the angry man of iron.

"I guess that means it's time to suit up?" Steve asked, sounding a little confused.

"Yeah, it does. Go get Natasha, I'll meet you at the jet." I answered, going to find my suit.

* * *

"Not alien robots," I groaned, getting out of the Quinjet and following Clint, Natasha, and Steve to a more open area to fight the alien robots.

The first thing I noticed in the square where we were fighting was the panicking civilians.

"I'm gonna get the people to safety, guys." I said, not even waiting for a reply before going to help the people.

* * *

_"Black Scorpion, are you there?"_ Natasha's panicked voice came over my earpiece.

"I'm here. What's up?" I replied, worried. Natasha didn't panic very often, and when she did, things were _very_ bad.

_"We've been captured by Loki."_ she answered, and I groaned in exasperation.

"I'm coming."


	4. Jailbreak

**Jailbreak**

* * *

As I ran toward where I had last seen the others, I thought. Hard.

I wasn't just a spy. I had superpowers, like most of the other Avengers, they just had to do with spying. I could see the whole light spectrum, including radio waves and radiation, I could hear all sound frequencies, and I could locate other people if I had ever been within a foot of them and knew their name.

I had one other thing that other superpowered individuals had, though, and that was the ability to shut off my powers. It had taken a while to achieve that ability, but I was glad that I had made the effort to. Seeing lights that other people didn't got really annoying after a while.

Every time I met someone new, I activated my powers for about a minute, detecting their signature. A person's signature consisted of their voice, scent, temperature, and radiation level, among other things. Every person had a unique signature, so I found it useful to know the signature of everyone I knew so I could quickly identify them.

My hard thinking was intended to activate my powers so I could search for two certain signatures. Those of Steve and Loki, who had very distinct signatures. Steve's was unique in that he had a higher body temperature than any healthy person, averaging at about one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Loki's was unique because he had a _lower_ body temperature than any living thing on the planet, a solid thirty-seven degrees Fahrenheit, just five degrees above freezing. Also, Loki had an unusually high radiation level, probably from that scepter he carried around.

"Stark Tower, of course!" I muttered to myself, hopping on a random motorcycle that hadn't been destroyed in the battle and heading toward Stark Tower, where I had detected the signatures originating from.

I arrived, following the signatures up to the floor where the main tower-fights had occurred.

"So, your little Scorpion came to save you. She has dirty little secrets of her own, you know," Loki taunted, and my eyes widened slightly. He wasn't going to tell them, was he?

"For example, how did she know _exactly_ where to find us? I disabled the tracking devices you were wearing, and I sure as hell didn't miss any!"

I also had another power. I could control the elements.

I chose fire to combat Loki, but I didn't start fighting right away.

"Guys, I promise you that I will explain all of this... Later!"

A wall of flame erupted around the Avengers, who were bound and gagged on the floor. Steve was unconscious, which worried me extremely, but the rest of them were alert. Another wall of flame erupted around Loki and me, containing the fight to the balcony. We both started almost immediately, him shooting energy from his scepter, me shooting fireballs from my hands.

Within three minutes, I had him pinned up against his Tesseract-portal machine, hands up in surrender. I surrounded him with a ring of fire and went to free the Avengers. Once unbound, all of them save Steve went to capture Loki, and I took down the ring of fire to allow them access.

"Steve!" I snapped, slapping the super-soldier across the face as hard as I possibly could. "What did you do to him, Loki?"

"He was not cooperating," Loki answered with a condescending smirk. "And I knew it would weaken you to see him possibly injured. You love the soldier, do you not?"

"I do _not_ love him!" I shrieked, the glass windows shattering with the note I hit. Also, the shriek woke Steve.

"Tell him that, then,-" Loki started, but I ignored him in favor of kissing Steve, effectively proving myself wrong. "Lie-"

Luckily for everyone, right then Loki's mouth was covered in a strip of steel that wrapped around his head, effectively muzzling him.


	5. Ain't No Party Like a Tony Stark Party!

**Ain't No Party Like a Tony Stark Party!**

* * *

_July 4, 2012, 8:30 p.m._

"Steve?" I called through the door of the bedroom we shared. He had been refusing to leave the room ever since, at dinner two hours before, Stark announced that he would be throwing a party in honor of Steve's birthday. The party started at nine, in half an hour, and while I wasn't concerned about how I looked, I wanted to talk to Steve.

"Go away!" Steve snapped, and something hit the door.

"It's me, Giovanna! I just want to talk!" I said, adding a desperate note to my voice to persuade Steve to let me in.

Sure enough, the door opened to show an angry-looking Steve.

"May I please come in?" I asked nervously, and he sighed, letting me past into the room. I sat down on the bed, Steve coming to sit next to me after locking the door.

"Why haven't you come out?" I asked quietly, trying not to provoke his anger.

"I didn't ask Stark for a party!" he snapped, and I chuckled internally.

"Yeah, but that won't stop him from throwing one. He's just trying to be nice, Steve, but in his own obnoxious way. He wants you to have fun on your birthday, and parties are fun. Besides, it's not a huge party. I asked Stark and he said he only invited the Avengers, Pepper, Fury, Hill, and Coulson. He also made sure Jarvis wouldn't let _anyone_ else into the Tower tonight, unless Stark decides to order pizza, then the delivery guy's allowed in the lobby. And I was there when he spoke to Jarvis about it!" I said, attempting to persuade Steve to come out and join the party.

"Is there a dress code? And what about Stark shooting fireworks?" Steve asked, the last sentence coming out sharp and cold.

"There's no dress code as long as you're wearing _something_, and the fireworks aren't Stark's. They're shot off from Central Park for the Fourth of July, but Stark gave some money to the people who put on the show so the fireworks will probably be a bit more extravagant than last year's. But that's all he did." I explained, and Steve thought for a moment, sighing.

"Alright, I'll come to the party. As long as we get to stand on the balcony and watch the fireworks!" Steve negotiated, and I chuckled.

"Take it up with Stark. I'm positive he'll agree though, it is _your_ party after all." I replied, and Steve stood up, checking the clock. It was 8:50. He turned to face me, getting this gleam in his eye that I recognized instantly.

"Well, Miss Russo, would you be my date to the party?" he asked, holding out a hand.

"But of course, Captain," I replied, taking his hand. I stood up, allowing Steve to lead me to the lounge, where the party would be taking place. Stark and Pepper were still setting up, but they were nearly finished.

"So you're coming after all, Cap," Stark remarked, noticing us watching them.

"Giovanna managed to persuade me," Steve replied, and Stark laughed.

* * *

Ten minutes later, everything was set up and the guests were arriving. Nearly everyone was present, except Pepper who had to "change into something more appropriate" as she had been wearing her fancy work outfit at the time.

"Ah, Pepper's back! Now we can start the party!" Stark called, bringing a tray of drinks from behind the bar.

"Good choice of drinks, Stark," I complimented. He bowed exaggeratedly after he set down the tray, before going to turn on some music.

"Gigi, why aren't you having a drink?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"I'd prefer not to get drunk, so I can fully enjoy the party." I replied, leaning my head on Steve's shoulder. He didn't have a drink either, but that was because alcohol didn't affect him after the super-soldier serum.

"No, you want to stay sober with Steve." Natasha corrected, and I huffed at my cover being blown.

"Yeah, she's right," I admitted, and Steve gave me an odd look.

"You can have a drink if you want, I don't mind," he said quietly so only I could hear.

"I really don't want to drink tonight. Whenever I go to a party with alcohol, I get horribly drunk and wake up with an agonizing hangover, since my powers activate involuntarily when I get overly drunk, and I can't turn them off when I'm hungover." I replied, just as quietly. Steve seemed to understand, because he didn't press further.

* * *

Three hours later, the fireworks show was about to start. Everyone had trooped out to the balcony a few minutes before, getting settled in very expensive lawn chairs. I sat on a bench seat with Steve, curled into his side and yawning every few minutes.

"Do you want to go to bed now?" Steve asked quietly, noticing my frequent yawns.

"No, because if I go to bed now then you'll come with, and this is your party. Besides, you wanted to watch the fireworks, right?" I answered, yawning once I had finished speaking.

"Yeah. But after the fireworks, we're going to bed," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

* * *

An hour and a half later, the fireworks show was over. Steve went to tell Stark that we were going to bed while I started wandering off to our bedroom. After a minute of wandering, Steve found me and led me to our room as the party dissipated in the lounge.

"That was a really fun party, though," I mused, and Steve nodded his agreement as he sat me on the bed. I immediately lay back and started dozing off, but Steve pulled me back up into a sitting position and helped me get undressed before undressing himself.

"I love you, Steve," I mumbled once we were settled under the covers, snuggling into his chest.

"I love you too, Giovanna. Good night."


	6. The Wrath of Fury-- And Laundry!

**The Wrath of Fury... And Laundry!**

* * *

_November 21, 2012, 8:56 a.m._

"Captain Rogers, Miss Russo, Director Fury orders your presence in the conference room immediately." Jarvis, Stark's AI butler, announced. I groaned, sitting up in bed and pulling on the first shirt I could find, which happened to be Steve's.

"Steve, wake up, Fury orders our presence in the conference room immediately," I called, walking into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I heard the unmistakable sounds of Steve getting up and sighed in relief. Fury wasn't going to kill us for being late after all.

"Giovanna, where's my shirt?" Steve called, and I rolled my eyes, putting up my toothbrush.

"Oh, you mean this one?" I replied, stepping out into the bedroom where Steve was looking around frantically for his shirt, which I was wearing.

"Yes, that one," he sighed, picking up one of my shirts and putting it on.

"So you're wearing my pi shirt now? My tie-dye pi shirt?" I asked incredulously as he walked into the bathroom.

"Well, you're wearing my favorite plaid button-down shirt, so I think we're even." he replied, and I sat on the bed to wait for him, pulling out my phone and starting up Unblock Me, one of my favorite games.

"Giovanna, we need to get going to the conference room, remember?" Steve reminded me as he came out of the bathroom, and I turned off the phone screen, following him out of the room.

* * *

"What in the _fuck_ are you wearing, Rogers? And you too, Russo!" Fury snapped, and I remembered that he hadn't been informed that Steve and I had gotten together after the battle with Loki.

"This is the first shirt I found when putting on a shirt, and since it's Steve's shirt, he got even by wearing my shirt." I explained, but that got Fury even more confused.

"Why- Everyone but Rogers and Russo, out!" Fury snapped, and the others were happy to comply.

"Why did the first shirt you happened to come across happen to belong to Rogers? Were you sleeping in the laundry room, Russo?!" Fury raged at me, and I knew that once we told Fury about our relationship, I would take most of Fury's fury.

"Director, it's-" Steve started, but I grabbed a handkerchief from the breast pocket of the shirt I was wearing and shoved it in his mouth, silencing him.

"Don't listen to him. I, um, I may have neglected to mention something rather important after the battle with Loki..." I started, taking a deep breath to calm myself.

"And what might that something be?" Fury growled, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Steve had pulled the handkerchief from his mouth and was about to say something. Seeing that gave me an idea of how to break the news to Fury.

"This." I said, grabbing Steve by the collar and yanking him over to me in a rough kiss. He responded nervously, seeing as Fury was right there watching us, but I had a message to convey to the enraged Director, so I gently coaxed Steve into deepening the kiss.

"Russo, I get it. Now get your tongue out of his mouth and leave!" Fury snapped, and I broke the kiss, giggling when I saw how uncomfortable he looked.

"Bye!" I chirped, rushing out of the room to avoid Fury's fury. Steve followed soon after, looking rather embarrassed about what had just gone down in the conference room.

"You know, I'm actually rather surprised that he didn't start bitching at me." I remarked, and Steve ignored me in favor of returning to our bedroom. I followed, but the door was slammed in my face and locked. Looking down the hallway, I noticed the laundry room door standing open.

"You know, sleeping in the laundry room _does_ sound fun..." I muttered, wandering through the door and flopping into a mountain of clean laundry, making a little nest for myself and drifting off...

* * *

"I'm gonna get a start on that mountain of laundry. If anyone wants to help, they're welcome to!" Pepper called over her shoulder, approaching the laundry room. I didn't hear her, as I was still sleeping in said mountain of laundry.

"Red cape, Thor. Black catsuit, Natasha. Purple socks, Clint. Plaid shirt, Steve. Impossibly stretchy purple pants, Bruce. AC/DC t-shirt, Tony. Pi shirt, Giovanna. Skirt, mine." Pepper said to herself, sorting the laundry into eight piles. I started to wake up as she pulled laundry off the mountain.

"Now that I've got the piles started, I'll get all of Thor's laundry out!" Pepper said, rummaging around for Thor's twenty-or-so red capes. I stayed where I was, not wanting to leave my comfy nest.

After finding all the capes, Pepper started on finding Natasha's laundry. I helpfully shoved one of Natasha's catsuits out of my nest, then burrowed down to the bottom of the mountain so I wouldn't be found for a while.

"Want some help with that?" I faintly heard Steve ask from the door of the laundry room.

"Sure! You can start finding your own laundry, then Giovanna's." Pepper replied, and I frowned to myself. With two people sorting through the mountain, I would be uncovered soon!

"I'll help too," Bruce offered, and I assumed he started looking for his own laundry.

"Speaking of Giovanna, I haven't seen her for hours. I hope she's okay," Steve said, and I resisted the urge to pop out of the mountain and assure him that I was fine.

"Oh, she's probably just napping somewhere. You know her, always trying to sleep through Sundays!" Pepper remarked, and I chuckled mentally before going back to sleep.

* * *

Two hours later, the only laundry left was the clothing covering me, which happened to be Pepper's. Steve tried to be helpful by dumping the laundry I was covered by into a laundry basket, not even noticing the extra weight in the pile. He carried the basket to Pepper and Stark's room, where she would put the clothes away. I drifted off to sleep again during the ride, not noticing when Pepper uncovered me.

"Giovanna! Why are you sleeping in my laundry?" Pepper shrieked, and I opened my eyes, blinking slowly and yawning.

"It's comfy," I mumbled, curling up into a ball and shifting around a bit, trying to get comfortable. She continued putting away her laundry, then dragged the basket I was in back to the laundry room, where she put Steve's and my laundry in the basket on top of me, dragging it to our bedroom.

"Steve, I brought yours and Giovanna's laundry!" she called through the door, leaving the basket by the door.

"This basket is heavier than it should be," Steve mused, dumping the basket out on our bed. I cried out in surprise as I was dumped unceremoniously onto the bed.

"Giovanna, were you sleeping in the laundry room?" he asked, putting away our laundry.

"Mm-hmm" was the only answer I gave before attempting to fall back asleep.

"Aah!" I squeaked as Steve lifted me off the bed, carrying me out to the lounge.

"I found Giovanna!" he announced, and everyone but Pepper turned to look. Pepper settled for rolling her eyes and walking into the kitchen.

"Where was she?" Stark asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"She was sleeping in the laundry room, but Pepper somehow got her in a laundry basket and brought her to our room," Steve answered, and I cleared my throat to get his attention.

"_You_ put me in the laundry basket without realizing it. I was under Pepper's laundry. She put away her laundry, then put our laundry in the basket with me and dragged it to our room where you _dumped me on the bed_," I corrected, and the occupants of the room laughed.

"So you _do_ sleep in the laundry room, then," Fury remarked, laughing.

"Only in the clean laundry," I replied smartly, cracking everyone up.


	7. April Fools! Or, the Prank War

**April Fools! (**or, The Prank War**)**

* * *

_April 1, 2013, 5:02 a.m._

"Whathefuck!" I snapped, instinctively pulling a gun from under my pillow and aiming it at the doorway. An air horn had gone off somewhere nearby, making for a rude awakening. And when I was rudely awakened, I shot the source.

"Sorry, Miss Russo, but sir has requested that I deliver this message to the occupants of the Tower," Jarvis said, pausing to turn his announcement to the whole tower and broadcast Stark's voice over the PA system.

"Happy April Fool's Day everyone! The Prank War has begun! Choose a partner, or a team, and get started!" he called, and I rolled my eyes, putting the gun back under my pillow and turning to Steve.

"Partners?" I asked, and he shrugged, getting out of bed and going to the closet to get dressed.

"Sure," came the reply, and he tossed me a shirt as well. "Any ideas?"

"None yet. But I'm sure Stark's already pulled something," I said, then got an idea. "Actually, I _do_ have an idea... Hey Jarvis, do you want to help us out with this prank war?"

"Sir did not give me orders not to, so I will help you." Jarvis answered, and I smiled evilly. This was gonna be good...

* * *

Half an hour later, our first prank was planned, and all that was left was the setup. Steve helped me to climb into the vent and handed me the bag of supplies.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen!" I called as I crawled through the air ducts, Jarvis guiding me around the maze.

"You are approaching Agent Barton's nest." Jarvis warned me, and I pulled a bag of bird seed out of the prank bag, dumping the contents into Clint's nest.

"Turn left at the next intersection, and the kitchen vent is at the end of that duct." Jarvis instructed, and I quickly reached the kitchen, where Steve was waiting. I dropped down onto the island silently, bringing the prank bag with.

"I got Clint's nest on the way," I said, pulling out two cans of spray paint and shaking one up, handing the other to Steve.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, we finished with the kitchen. I stood back, admiring our work. The whole kitchen was covered in graffiti to rival that of the most experienced vandal, but it wasn't just random scribbles and symbols, no, the kitchen was a work of art.

"Dr. Banner is approaching." Jarvis warned, and I pushed Steve up onto the island and through the vent. I followed, closing the vent silently behind us right as Bruce entered the kitchen.

"I would suggest redecorating the elevator next." Jarvis offered, lighting the way to the elevator.

"Why didn't you light the way earlier?" I asked suspiciously.

"You asked me to tell you how to get to the kitchen. Now hurry up, you only have thirty minutes until sir goes down to the lab in the elevator!"

"To the elevator!"

* * *

"You know, we're gonna have to get our room so they don't get suspicious," I commented, and Steve gave me an odd look.

"We're covered in spray paint, Giovanna. They're going to find out it's us whether or not we paint our room." he countered, and I looked down. We _were_ covered in spray paint.

* * *

By noon, we had redecorated the whole Tower with spray paint, with help from Stark's robots, without getting caught. We had even gotten the outside of the Tower!

"Now what?" Steve asked, and I sighed. I had been trying to think of another prank for a while, and was coming up with nothing.

"Can't think of anything. You got any ideas?" I asked, Google searching "good pranks" to try and find something to do.

"No. How about we go out and find out what everyone else did?" he suggested, and I got up to leave the room. Steve started opening the door, but I spotted something unusual in the crack between the door and the door-frame.

"Stop." I ordered, pulling him away from the door and kicking the door open, leaping over the bed as it swung open. A bucket of paint had been rigged up to dump on whoever opened the door, but the rigging was visible if you were looking, and I had been looking. The paint dumped onto the floor in the doorway, not hitting either of us, but I got an idea from looking at the puddle of green paint. I took off my socks and rolled up the cuffs of my jeans, walking through the paint and leaving footprints behind wherever I walked. Steve followed me to the kitchen, where lunch was ready. Or, a plate of wax food was sitting out to look like lunch. There was also a pitcher of 'water' beside the 'food'.

"Fake food, and the 'water' is rum," I said, going into the lounge. Clint lay on the floor, seemingly dead in a pool of blood, but I could see his chest rising and falling as he breathed, and the bullet hole in his head was a temporary tattoo.

"He's still breathing, the bullet hole is actually a temporary tattoo," I informed Steve, noticing his look of concern. "And the blood is red paint."

Next, we found a more realistic fake corpse of Thor, obviously made to look dead by Bruce.

"I highly doubt that Thor can be killed easily enough that we wouldn't hear. But Bruce did a good job with the makeup!"

Over the next hour, we moved through the Tower, finding various Avengers playing dead, booby-trapped doors, and other pranks that I spotted easily.

"Aw, you're no fun!" Stark whined as I showed Steve how Stark had created holographic flames and purposely burned his clothing while using makeup to make himself look relatively charred.

"The junior agents often pull pranks like this, so I know what to look for. But why did _everyone_ go for playing dead?" I asked, and Stark threw up his arms, gesturing at the spray-painted lab.

"Because a certain Italian spy already topped everything we could have done by spray painting everything!" Stark said, and I smirked.

"So we won the prank war?" I asked, and Stark nodded dejectedly, handing me a spray-painted Iron Man helmet.

"There's your trophy."


End file.
